If you find yourself in need of emergency Police, Fire, or Ambulance assistance, your 911 call may prove to be the most important phone call you will ever make. It is important to know the address where help is needed. If you do not know, and cannot ask anyone around you, be prepared to describe the location well enough that the Telecommunicator can help determine where you are; without a proper location it is impossible to send help in a timely manner.

You should call 911 only in the event of a Fire, Police, or Ambulance emergency situation. An emergency situation is one where someone’s life, health, or property may be in danger without immediate intervention from Fire, Police, or Emergency Medical personnel. Some examples of this type of call include a fire in a house or car, domestic violence or a fight in progress, or someone having chest pain or who is seriously injured. There are many other examples of emergency situations, but in general, any time life or property is in danger, you should call 911 right away. For all other types of fire, police, or ambulance assistance, you should call the non-emergency number for the department that you need.

When you call 9-1-1, the Telecommunicator who answers will ask you several questions. It is important that you listen carefully, and answer each question as best as you can. For a list of these questions please view the Telecommunicator Questions page.

If at all possible, call from a safe place; if at all possible leave any building where there is a fire immediately. As with any 911 call, tell the Telecommunicator the exact address or location of the fire, what is burning, and whether anyone is still inside, or otherwise threatened by the fire. If you are trapped inside a burning building tell the Telecommunicator exactly where you are in the building so that firefighters will know where to look for you. Remember that answering the Telecommunicator’s questions will not slow down the response to the fire, and may help save lives and property by providing valuable information to those who are coming to help. Never try to re-enter a burning building for any reason! Doing so puts your own life at risk, and may risk the lives of others if their own rescue is delayed by firefighters rescuing you because you put yourself in danger.

Unless staying on the line would put you in danger, never hang up before the Telecommunicator does. The information you provide about what is happening can be relayed to police and fire responders, allowing them to react to changing conditions and circumstances at the scene. These updates can mean the difference between solving or stopping a crime, and could even help save lives. If you are in a dangerous situation, and must leave the phone, do not hang up; simply set the phone down, and then walk away. Doing this allows the Telecommunicator to hear what happens in the room even if you are not in a position to speak or answer questions.

People often call 911 about very difficult or uncomfortable situations. Even if the answer is difficult or embarrassing, it is important never to lie to the Telecommunicator. It is a crime to knowingly and intentionally give false information to the police, and misrepresenting the facts about a situation might put those who are coming to help in danger.

Telecommunicators understand that accidents happen every day. If you misdial a number, or a child accidentally dials 911, simply inform the Telecommunicator that you’ve made a mistake. The Telecommunicator may ask you to verify the address from which you are calling to make sure that the information in the 911 database is correct. As with any other 911 call, please don’t hang up until the Telecommunicator does. If you dial 911 and then hang up, the Telecommunicator is required to dispatch a police officer to your address to make sure you are all right, when that officer might be needed somewhere else for an actual emergency. This happens even if you hang up before the Telecommunicator answers!

The advancement of mobile phone technology has allowed people to use their telephones to report emergencies from nearly any location, but, unlike land line based telephones, a mobile call to 911 does not always provide enough information to obtain an exact address, particularly in very densely populated areas. People who use a mobile phone to call 911 should be prepared to provide specific information about their location to ensure that responders can find them. While the technology involved in locating a cellular / mobile phone is developing every day, it is still impossible in most cases to provide the exact address/location of a 911 caller simply from the data provided by the phone.

If you have a mobile phone with “emergency dial” features be sure to lock your keypad, or otherwise prevent accidental “pocket dialing” that can result in multiple accidental calls to 911.